Acer leapfrogs Dell and HP to become number one in the UK

Acer has leaped into pole position of the UK PC market share, overtaking HP and Dell, according to Gartner.

The new PC sales figures show a fall in sales for Dell from 595,000 units in Q2 2009 to a forecast of 462,000 for the same period this year. By contrast, strong corporate demand has propelled Acer to a predicted 648,000 units.

Acer recorded revenue growth of 36 per cent in the UK, outstripping the still impressive growth of 31 per cent for Western Europe overall. The figures also knock previous top PC seller HP into second position. This performance was, however, the best out of a generally weak UK market.

“There is no doubt that the introduction of the austerity measures in the UK has hindered any anticipated improvement in the underlying demand for PCs,” said Gartner research director Ranjit Atwal.

"The UK market remained the weakest of the larger PC markets in Western Europe with growth almost half that of France," said Atwal before warning that the UK would likely continue to see subdued growth compared to the rest of Western Europe.

Gartner said 15.6m PCs shipped in the second quarter, up a healthy 19.6 per cent year on year. Acer’s 22.4 per cent share is followed by HP on 20.5 per cent, Dell on 15.9 per cent, Toshiba on 7.6 per cent and Samsung on 5.9 per cent.